"Docuweek at Sundance": Strange by true

Larry Flynt, Ariel Dorfman, the Japanese invasion of Nanking in the early days of World War II, the Dominican Republic's exploitation of dispossessed Haitians in its production of sugarcane - if any of these subjects interest you, you'll want to look into Docuweek, a collection of films screening Nov. 2-8 at Sundance Cinemas. There's also a film called Protagonist, which introduces us to four gentlemen - a German terrorist, a bank robber, an "ex-gay" evangelist and a martial-arts aficionado - who came up with their very own notions of what it means to live life to the fullest. And finally, there's Chops, my favorite of the ones I've seen, a blow-by-blow account of a high school jazz band that, through talent and sheer hard work, made its way to New York's Lincoln Center. Selected by the International Documentary Association, these films will be another step closer to Oscar consideration as a result of screening in Madison. And I wouldn't be surprised if one of them pulled down a nomination.